[Kitahara Mahiro]:With such a large amount, a verbal promise won’t cut it. I need to make a proper IOU. If that’s acceptable to you, I’ll send you the electronic signature right now. And just so you know, if you dare try to weasel out of paying, I’ll send a hitman crawling through the internet cable to your doorstep.
[Halley on Ice]:No problem, no problem!! Once I get the server up and running with ads, I’ll use the ad revenue to pay you back in monthly installments!
After all that hassle, she ended up transferring the money anyway.
Thinking about it, this behavior was just plain stupid.
Even with a legally binding electronic IOU, lending three million without batting an eye to a stranger she’d never met in person would probably get her laughed out of the house if her family found out.
Was she some gullible little girl, and he was just playing the long con?
Having money didn’t mean she should throw it around… but…
Maybe Liang Hai was feeling a bit restless lately, seeking some kind of emotional comfort.
After all… tonight she had to meet her never-before-seen fiancé.
[Halley on Ice]:Thanks so much for lending me the money, big shot! This kindness I’ll never forget! Men gotta stick together, right? Little Nanliang here is a dude too! Nothing else to say—we’re brothers for life now!
“…”
Liang Hai stared at the words “Little Nanliang” and rubbed her brow in exasperation.
The other party seemed to steadfastly believe that the person behind the screen—operating a pink-and-blue cute-style character and spending money lavishly as “Kitahara Mahiro”—was some cross-dressing little pretty boy.
No matter how much Liang Hai had explained in the past, he always brushed it off as “a tsundere quirk typical of pretty boys.”
What a hopeless guy.
Unable to comprehend his bizarre thought process, Liang Hai simply gave up struggling.
He was already like that, so why not just go along with it?
[Kitahara Mahiro]:Alright, I’m heading home for now.
[Halley on Ice]:Thank you! Okay meow meow, thanks catgirl.
[Kitahara Mahiro]:Let’s add each other outside the game. I am your creditor, after all (✿^‿^)!
[Halley on Ice]:Sure.
A friend request popped up on the screen.
After adding the QQ number and confirming that cute anime girl avatar had settled into her friend list, Liang Hai closed her laptop.
Honestly, with an avatar that cute, you’re the one who’s more like a pretty boy.
She stood up and slipped into a dress.
Stepping out of the golf club, she slid into the silver-gray supercar parked in its reserved spot.
With a deep, pleasing rumble from the engine, the car cut through the evening breeze like a streamlined blade, heading home.
The glow of the setting sun streamed through the car window.
“Forget it, not gonna think about tonight’s mess…”
Liang Hai murmured softly, one hand on the steering wheel.
“Before that dinner meeting tonight, I’ll just head home, log in, and play some <sky record> for a bit.”
In the early evening, the curtain kept the sunset’s glow outside.
The third floor of the Liang family villa was one entire floor converted into a massive e-sports room.
Cool-toned RGB ambient lights pulsed slowly like breathing in the darkness, and the curved wraparound monitor cast a soft glow, illuminating the girl’s face in shifting light and shadow.
Liang Hai kicked off her shoes, wearing black pantyhose, knees together and feet tucked on the edge of the wide gaming chair.
“Heal me, heal me…”
All her focus was on the 50-player dragon raid in <sky record>.
“ROAR—!”
On screen, the massive red dragon spread its wings and soared, whipping up scorching waves of flame, then slammed down toward the crowd with crushing force.
Off screen, Liang Hai’s fingers blurred across the keyboard, smashing keys frantically.
Liang Hai was playing a berserker class wielding twin axes.
A roll! She dodged the dragon’s breath!
She circled patiently across the scorched earth, waiting for that moment when the dragon landed and went stiff.
“Still no leads on Grey Ivy?”
Liang Hai’s eyes stayed glued to the screen, and during the half-second skill cooldown, she tossed out a question without turning her head.
An elderly butler with graying hair stepped forward slowly, carrying a tray with a glass of lemonade over ice.
The old butler gently set the glass beside her hand.
“I’m sorry, young lady, not yet. The other party’s real information is very well hidden, clearly possessing a high degree of counter-surveillance awareness online. Even the intelligence division at the Magical Girl Association is completely in the dark for now.”
“…Alright.”
Liang Hai hit a few skill keys, sending her berserker straight into a brutal combo on the dragon as it landed.
Lifesteal, lifesteal, lifesteal.
Don’t die, don’t die.
Liang Hai was fully focused on trading blows with the dragon.
Even though her hands moved with flawless precision, she was seriously irritated.
Because that damned Grey Ivy… had been stirring up drama about her on the forums again this morning.
Spreading nonsense about her all over the boards again.
Yes, the magical girl Suigetsuka—known across the internet as the “Elegant Young Lady” with countless female fans—was none other than the college junior sitting right here, Liang Hai.
A junior in university, she spent her time juggling magical girl duties, protecting the city, helping manage the family business, and in whatever free time remained, playing sky record.
Running herself ragged on all fronts was exhausting enough, but every time she finally wanted to unwind…
You know that feeling of opening a video platform and seeing, under the algorithm, nothing but reposts and discussions from that one forum—all just nonsense being spread about her? The sheer agony of it?
That so-called [Jia Xin] this morning—based on Liang Hai’s years of experience, one glance at the writing style and she could tell it was Grey Ivy’s handiwork.
If it were just plain old baiting and trolling, that’d be one thing.
What drove Liang Hai up the wall was that this person had some weird garbage rattling around in their head. Sometimes they’d inexplicably write little fanfics and racy stories about her.
Liang Hai, from a proper upbringing, had been utterly traumatized the first time she read one of those deranged essays.
The content included, but was not limited to:
Fabricating tales of Suigetsuka being glamorous in battle during the day, then pitifully crouching behind a convenience store at night, scavenging discounted stale bread to survive.
Or remaking her pure white magical girl outfit into an all-black getup—black fitted dress, black semi-sheer pantyhose, black stiletto heels—and then writing about her doing those kinds of things in a corner…
Or just posting insane bait everywhere to stir up conflict.
This person is absolutely insane, right?!
Despite having been forced to look at this for two years, Liang Hai had become somewhat numb to the absurdity on some level.
But that didn’t mean her anger had cooled. If anything, it burned hotter with every bout of helplessness.
All you could say was that the gap between people was bigger than the gap between humans and dogs.
At least Ice on Halley—now that was someone decent, unlike her.
At least that person provided emotional value in games and fought through life-and-death battles together.
A chatterbox while gaming, sure, but they always picked up on her mood and had a great sense of humor.
Though their archery was absolute trash—the kind of trash that was famous across the whole game…
No problem, Liang Hai carried Halley on Ice.
Carried hard.
The old butler continued speaking.
“And recently, the Magical Girl Association has been quietly searching for her trail. If she really is a magical girl, they should find a lead soon enough.”
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